


Coping Mechanism

by sapphicism (ranpoandpoe)



Series: Raydia Week 2019 [4]
Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Flashbacks, Future Fic, Hair Braiding, Married Couple, Not Beta Read, Raydia Week 2019, raydiaweek2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-01
Updated: 2019-08-01
Packaged: 2020-07-28 23:40:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20072524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ranpoandpoe/pseuds/sapphicism
Summary: “Your braids are cute,” Claudia commented one day. She clearly remembered the white, braided hair strands she found while looking for Rayla and the princes.





	Coping Mechanism

**Author's Note:**

> raydia week - day 5: hair 
> 
> i'm sorry, this is really short :( also, please, don't read if descriptions of anxiety attacks trigger you... i added this in the fic, because i'm having many of those myself these days, and i felt like self projecting a bit!

“Your braids are cute,” Claudia commented one day. She clearly remembered the white, braided hair strands she found while looking for Rayla and the princes.

As a response, Rayla smiled — it was a smile of the nostalgic kind, just like Claudia’s own when she talked about her mother. 

“Runaan taught me how to do it,” she explained. “I had just been rescued from… from a dangerous area, and I was… I couldn’t breathe, I was nervous, and he said braiding helped him to relax. It still works for me.”

Claudia knew there were parts of Rayla’s past she didn’t feel comfortable sharing, so she wouldn’t pressure her to do it. “It’s a nice memory.”

“It is.”

**[...]**

Rayla couldn’t breathe — and not as a joke or a metaphor. It was and felt quite real: her chest hurting like someone was pressing it every time she tried to inhale for air — it was way too real.

Her mind was too crowded, with too many thoughts. Callum and Ezran were out for a mission. Alone, without her. She got a goddamn cold, which made it impossible for her to accompany them, and now, there was that weight on her chest, that was nowhere near recent news.

A skilled and fierce Moonshadow elf, being defeated by a cold — it was truly embarrassing and shameful. How could she be a true warrior, like Runaan, if—

“Is everything alright?”

Claudia entered the room. “Yes,” Rayla answered, despite the tears in her face, as the other woman got closer.

“Come here.” Rayla obeyed, sitting next to Claudia on the bed, just as she had done herself a few seconds before. “Now, braid my hair.”

“Claudia, thank you, but you don’t need to—”

“Of course I don’t need to do anything, I know that. But I want to,” Claudia replied, confidently. “You’re courageous, and a skilled fighter. You weren’t made to break, you can do it sometimes, but… you seem broken enough to me. And I don’t… I don’t want to see you like this. You’re still gorgeous like a thunderstorm, yes, but in pain.” Claudia sighed, and Rayla still stared at her, appalled. “Anyway. My hair would look super cute organized in a braid, wouldn’t it?”

Claudia gave Rayla a smile, one so big that her eyes accompanied her lips — and the elf couldn’t say ‘no’ when she looked adorable like that. 

As she separated the hair strands and interlaced them with each other, as Runaan had taught her years before, her heart gradually managed to get some softness from Claudia’s hair. And, although she knew it wasn’t a permanent cure, Rayla was absolutely convinced that her wife was the most delightful coping mechanism she would find.

**Author's Note:**

> please, tell me what you think in the comments! if you wanna follow me on twitter, i'm @wlwsrobin! <3


End file.
